Monday, June 22, 2015

WE WON! Nikki Haley said there would be no winners. No Losers. She was wrong. All of South Carolina has won a state that will be a little closer to accepting and celebrating our beautiful diversity. As for her motives, she wants to come down on the right side of this issue historically - as she has been on the wrong side all along. It couldn't be clearer that the flag would come down fairly soon. The momentum has shifted that way. Even a few Republicans have been starting a movement to get it off the statehouse grounds. By making her announcement today, Governor Haley gets to look like a real "take charge" leader, someone who is compassionate and in touch with the people and the issues. This is from SALON.com on October 14th of last year.

Nikki Haley: It's OK to have the Confederate flag at the statehouse because not "a single CEO" has complained

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley defended the Confederate flag’s presence on South Carolina’s statehouse grounds, declaring in a debate Tuesday that the flag isn’t an issue because “not a single CEO” has complained about it.Parting ways with Democratic challenger Vincent Sheheen, who called for the flag’s removal, Haley acknowledged that the flag was a “sensitive issue” but rejected the notion of removing it.

“What I can tell you is over the last three and a half years, I spent a lot of my days on the phones with CEOs and recruiting jobs to this state,” Haley said. “I can honestly say I have not had one conversation with a single CEO about the Confederate flag.”

Conceding that South Carolina had suffered an image problem in the past, Haley asserted that the state had moved beyond those days.

I couldn't be happier that she changed her mind on this issue. Heidi and I wept as the Governor read her speech. Almost certainly the flag will be removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. We should never stop fighting for social justice. God knows there is a lot to stand against. For example, the statue of Ben Tillman is still within sight of the Statehouse steps. That statue represents the very worst of the Old South, the old ways. But for now we can pause, catch our breath, be amazed at this historic moment, and celebrate this strongly symbolic gesture that things are indeed changing in South Carolina. It is crushingly sad to know that it had to take something so tragic as the murders at the Emanuel AME Church to inspire this change. I'll post more of the pictures I took at the rally to bring down the flag at the Statehouse on Saturday. We won, you guys. WE WON!

We went to the rally to take down the Confederate flag on Saturday night. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. But one poem was read during the speeches. It was by the poet laureate of the Confederate army after the Civil War ended. His name was Abram Joseph Ryan. It's called The Conquered Banner.

Friday, June 19, 2015

I have so many thoughts swirling around in my mind that I
don’t know where to start.But
writing is generative, so I’ll just begin.Somehow it may shape itself.

Heidi has been crying.And she’s been glued to the news.It happened right here in our state.Dylan Roof. The kid is from our home town. A Bible study at Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church.Hate.Love.Evil.And for many – now forgiveness.It’s almost unbelievable.How did we get here?

There is no need to go over the
events.You must know by now.But there are circumstances that are
worth considering. “We don’t have all the
facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part
because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands
on a gun,” President Obama said.

A good friend of mine is getting
married to a man from South Korea.She was our student teacher, so naturally when she was going to introduce
him to our second graders we prepared questions.“What’s the biggest difference between South Korea and South
Carolina?” asked one of our inquisitive ones.

“In South Korea there are no guns,”
was his immediate reply.No
guns.So this wouldn’t have
happened in South Korea.It really
is that simple.

When violence like this occurs,
you just know that FOX “News” pundits and gun rights advocates will say, “This is no time to have a conversation about
gun control…Guns don’t kill,
people kill people…”Unbelievable as it sounds, our SC Governor Nikki Haley said it
this morning on FOX’s Fox and Friends… The "time right now is not right for South Carolina to be having the gun
control debate.”I guess we
never learn. That's what was said after Sandy Hook and Aurora and when Gabby Giffords was shot and the rest were killed in Arizona. For the guns rights groups there is never a right time to talk about rational gun laws. Governor Haley was in complete agreement with the gun rights groups who were outraged at President Obama’s comments
that, “this type of violence does not
happen in other advanced countries.”

Governor Haley told Fox
“News” that, “Apparently he’s got a job
to do, but my job is that there are nine families who are incredibly hurt.There is an Emmanuel Church that’s
besides themselves.”My
question is – What is Nikki Haley’s job?Apparently one of her priorities is supporting the absolute right for
everyone to own a gun.These are
some of her statements about her positions from ontheissues.org –

Make
concealed weapons permits easier

Few
things are as clearly defined as the right of individual Americans to own and
use firearms. The right to bear arms was deemed so critical by our Founders
that they spelled it out in absolute terms, and any governmental action that
undermines that right is in turn undermining the very freedoms that built our
great nation. I hold a Concealed Weapons Permit myself, and in this state makes
it difficult for CWP holders to rightfully carry--we need to make the rules
that govern carrying far more simple

The
right to bear arms was deemed so critical by our Founders that they spelled it
out in absolute terms, and it is my belief that any governmental action that
undermines that right is in turn undermining the very freedoms that built our
great nation. I hold a Concealed Weapons Permit myself, and in this state we
have issues that make it difficult for CWP holders to carry. As governor, I
will continue to fight against any government infringement on the 2nd Amendment.

As Bizarre as it sounds,
Governor Haley supported a bill that made it legal to carry guns without any
permit or gun safety training.That bill passed in April of this year. So, in SC: there is no permit required to buy a gun, no registration required, no license required, carry permits are allowed, no assault weapons laws, and no restrictions on magazine capacity.

The governor was quick to
call for the death penalty in this case.On the TODAY Show this morning, she said that if Roof is convicted that
he should be put to death. “This is
a state hurt by the fact that nine people innocently were killed. We will
absolutely want him to have the death penalty.”

However, many of the victim’s
families did not turn to anger.“I
forgive you,” Nadine Collier, daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said at the
hearing, her voice breaking with emotion.“You took something very precious from me.I will never talk to her again.I will never, ever hold her again.But I forgive you.And have mercy on your soul.”

So here
is our governor who says we should not even begin to entertain the notion of
thinking about stricter gun control but who calls for the death penalty for
Roof if he’s convicted.She says
that the president is playing politics by suggesting that we should "shift how we think
about the issue of gun violence collectively."She is above the
politics of the situation for it is her responsibility to care for the families
of the victims.

If she were really
thinking of the victims, she might consider how ridiculously easy it is to buy
and carry a gun in SC.She might
make background checks, waiting periods, gun safety classes all a part of
responsible gun ownership.I think
the victims and the church would truly appreciate that.It would take courage to take that kind of stand. Her friends at FOX “News” might not go
along with it.

The victims and
their families might appreciate the overt signs of racism being removed from
the State House grounds.Governor
Haley could realistically do something about that.The Confederate flag was flown above the capitol building
beginning in the early 1960’s to demonstrate to African Americans that they
were still inferior to Whites regardless of the Civil Rights guaranteed by the
Federal Government.It still flies
on the State House Grounds.It
would take courage to take that flag away from our honorable seat of government
and put it into a museum where it belongs.

SC still honors
racist murderer Ben Tillman with a bronze statue near the State House
steps.He helped to organize a white supremacists’ massacre of African
Americans.He incorporated laws
that blocked Black citizens from holding office in SC for almost a
century.He openly threatened to
kill any Black man who attempted to vote, and publicly claimed to have kept
that threat.

Governor Haley walks by that statue every single day that she goes into
work.I bet the families of the
victims would appreciate that statue being taken down.And perhaps even an apology for the 75
years it has been there as another reminder of White supremacy.That would take courage on Governor
Haley’s part.

There is so much to
be sad about.

But there is also
reason to be hopeful. Forgiving Roof?Not demanding blood for blood?

That is an example
of real courage.

The loss of those
beautiful, amazing people who were killed needlessly in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church left a void that will
never be filled.But perhaps this
will be the moment for the people in South Carolina to accomplish some things
that should have been done a long time ago.Perhaps this tragedy will be a catalyst for some much needed
change in our state.

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About Me

I am a teacher, a dad, a husband, musician, brother, son, friend, reader, writer, story teller, seeker. Born in NW Indiana, a grateful transplant to South Carolina. I am 59 years old and can't play on the recess field as hard as I once did.